Pain of Separation
by JenniRae17
Summary: Teddy and Victoire are completely in love, but Victoire has two more years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite getting letters from Teddy every week, she slips into depression, worsened by the bullying from a certain Slytherin. Can Teddy and Victoire beat the odds and make it through the year?
1. Chapter 1

Teddy had to see her off. The thought of not seeing her again until Christmas was almost physically painful, but he had the comfort of her letters to keep him afloat.

"Write to me," he pleaded as he pulled his lips from hers on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. "Every week."

"I will," she said hastily, stretching up, trying to kiss him again.

"Promise," he moaned, thinly concealing the anguish he was feeling.

"I promise." She grabbed his chin, stretched up as far as she could, and pulled him down so that their lips touched again, softly.

The train's whistle blew and he pulled her into a quick embrace, soaking in the feel of her soft, green sweater, the heat of her body beneath it, and the smell of her platinum blonde hair.

"I love you," he whispered to her, letting her go. She walked backwards away from him a few steps, grinning and holding up the sign language gesture for "I love you." She turned around and disappeared onto the Hogwarts Express.

Victoire joined her friends in their compartment, but she took a window seat, thinking of Teddy. He was all she had ever wanted. He was intelligent and witty, but not like some of her rude classmates in Ravenclaw. He was of course kind, being a Hufflepuff, especially to her. But he wasn't shy either; he was bold and entertaining and funny. He would do just about anything to make Victoire laugh.

They had known each other just about all of their lives. Teddy was born before the Battle of Hogwarts and Victoire only two years later on the anniversary of the Battle. Teddy was the third person to hold little eight-pounds and five-ounces Toire – as he had always called her.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" asked the kindly old woman pushing her cart piled high with sweets, jerking Victoire out of her thoughts.

"N-no thank you," she stuttered. She flashed back to her childhood while the others bought their candy.

Five-year-old Victoire found Teddy sitting on the beach in front of Shell Cottage, making strange signs with his hands.

"What are you doing?" she asked, sitting down next to him.

"Grandma doesn't hear so good anymore," he said. "She's teaching me sign language." He held up a sign for Toire to see.

"What's that mean?"

"It means 'I love you.'" And with that, Teddy leaned toward Toire and tried to kiss her.

Laughing, she dodged his kiss and ran up the hill toward the house. "I bet you can't catch me!" she laughed.

"Fine, I bet a kiss!" called Teddy, running after her.

She looked back and didn't see the root in her path. She tripped, scraping her hands as she fell.

"Toire!" Teddy screamed as her caught up to her and stooped to the ground beside her. "Are you ok?"

She continued crying and buried her face in her knees.

Carefully, gently, Teddy took her hands and kissed her palms where they were bloodied, careful not to hurt her.

"I don't know, Teddy," said nine-year-old Toire, sitting cross-legged in a huge blanket fort in Harry and Ginny's living room.

"Come on, one little kiss?" he pleaded.

"What if they catch us?"

"I'll protect you. I'll always protect you." Teddy looked into her eyes.

"Oh, all right," said Victoire, snuggling close to him and bending her face toward his. Their lips touched and Teddy's hair turned bright pink.

"Dinner's ready!" called Ginny from the kitchen, jerking the kids back into reality.

And then there was the day it became real.

POP! Teddy apparated right into the kitchen of Shell Cottage, where Toire was making dinner.

"Teddy! What are you doing here? Why can't you apparate to the front door and KNOCK for a change?"

"That's no fun," he said, grinning. He popped a French fry in his mouth. "And I have a question for you."

"Sure," she said, not taking her eyes away from the pan.

"I need you attention," he said gently, taking the spatula from her hand and laying it on the counter. He held her gaze for a few seconds and then asked, as casually as if he had asked her to pass the potatoes, "Will you marry me?"

Toire was speechless for a minute, and then she asked, "Are you crazy?"

"Not that I know of."

"I'm only fifteen."

"And I'm only seventeen. I don't mean right this _minute_."

"What do you mean?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean that I want you to be mine. Forever."

"Well how about we take things one step at a time?" she said, laughing and jabbing him in the ribs as he tried to steal more French fries. "I'll be your girlfriend for now."

"That's a start." He hugged her around the waist and buried his face in her soft, blonde hair.

"Vic? Vic!" said Olivia Woodruff, Victoire's best friend from across the compartment. "Aren't you going to change into your robes?"

With a start, Victoire realized that everyone else had already changed into their uniforms. She got up silently and grabbed her clothes from her bag, dodging the other girls' legs as she headed to the bathroom.

In a daze, she changed out of her Muggle clothes, admiring the Prefect's badge as she pinned it in place.

She returned to her seat and sat in silence for the rest of the train ride, wishing she could turn around.


	2. Chapter 2

A week later, Victoire walked to the library by herself, thinking about the only thing that kept her from screaming - Teddy. She kept him in her mind, thinking about his bright blue hair that he would turn Christmas tree green for the holidays.

But even he wasn't enough to put her in a good mood; Julie Winters and her gang had seen to that in potions.

Victoire's last class of the day was potions with the Slytherins. Julie was beautiful, with long dark hair as find as Victoire's, but she was the meanest girl at Hogwarts. The Hufflepuffs said that when they learned about the use of the Cruciatis Curse on first years before the Battle of Hogwarts, Julie laughed and said she wished she had a time turner. Pure evil.

So Toire learned the hard way that you DO NOT want to get on Julie's bad side. At first sight, Julie hated Toire; the two were just about equal in beauty, and Julie didn't like competition.

And it didn't help that Victoire had corrected her on the first day of History of Magic as a first year.

They had History of Magic with the Slytherins, and Professor Binns was going into the basics of what they would be covering that year.

"Can anyone tell me why we hide our abilities from Muggles?" he asked. "Ms. Winters?"

"Some idiots passed the Statute of Secrecy in 1689."

Victoire raised her hand timidly. "Professor? It was signed in 1689. It wasn't established until 1692."

"Correct, Ms. Weasley. Five points to Ravenclaw. Ms. Winters, you have detention for three days for that comment. Ten points from Slytherin."

So Julie made it her life's goal to make Toire's life miserable or die trying. And she had succeeded. And then some.

As Toire climbed the stairs, she thought of today's potions class. It had been a disaster.

They were making love potions, and Julie employed one of her minions to slip Wolfsbane into Toire's cauldron. It caught fire and Professor Parkinson had to use augumenti to keep the fire from spreading to Toire's robes.

"She's done it again," whined Julie from across the room.

Toire had just hung her head and taken the blows; she learned long ago that fighting back would only land her in detention. No one would stand up to Julie. No one except Professor McGonagall.

Toire walked into the library and sat down at an empty table. She got out a piece of parchment, a quill and ink and wrote a letter to Teddy.

Dear Teddy Bear,  
I miss you already. I want to come home and be with you. I want it to be Christmas all year long so we can be together forever under the mistletoe. Julie is being her usual self, but I'll manage. I love you and hope things are going well back home. Please write soon and fill me in on anything I'm missing.  
Much love,  
Toire

She put the letter in the envelope and walked in a trance up to her dorm. Her snowy owl, Serah, given to her by her uncle Harry before the start of her first term, hooted a greeting from her open cage.

Victoire wrote Teddy's name on the envelope and stood be Serah's cage, stroking the soft feathers on her head. "Take this to Teddy," she said, tying the letter to Serah's leg.

She watched the bird fly out of the open window, walked to her bed, and sat down shakily on the edge.  
"Hey Olivia called, sticking her head around the door. "Don't you want to come out to the common room? We're having a group study session!"

Olivia was clearly excited, so Toire forced a smile. "I'm not in the mood, but thanks."

"What's wrong?"

Toire sighed. This was exactly the question she was trying to avoid. "It's nothing, I'm just stressed out. School and all."

Olivia thought for a second and then joined Victoire on her bed. "You can talk to me if you want, you know," she said.

A crack formed in Victoire's mask and a single tear slipped down her cheek as she thought of how many friends she'd lost lately. She buried her face in her hands and shook her head.

"I have another idea. Let's go down to the kitchens and get some food. Come on."

She took Toire's hand and led her through the crowded common room. Everyone looked so happy, immersed in their books and notes and the stories of their fellow Ravenclaws; Victoire wished she could be a part of it, but she just couldn't see the point anymore.

The pair walked out of the common room and down four flights of stairs to the basement level. Olivia opened the huge double door leading into the kitchen. The house elves were busy preparing for dinner to be served in a few hours; the smell of spices and cakes was in the air, but there were plenty of deserts ready to be served.

"Master Olivia!" called one of the house elves, abandoning her place at a stove to greet the two girls. "So good to see you!"

"Hi Spiffy! We were wondering if we could have our desert early. Victoire is having a bad day."  
"Yes, yes! I'll put on some tea!"

Toire and Olivia settled down on the nearest of the four replica house tabled - Gryffindor.  
"I know you don't want to talk to me, but-"

"Actually, I do want to talk to you," Toire said quickly. "I need to talk to you or I'll lose the only friend I have left."

Spiffy brought over a plate of tarts and two slices of chocolate cake. Trailing behind her, a younger, smaller elf brought a pot of tea and two teacups.

"Thank you!" said Olivia.

The house elves walked away with a bow. "You have plenty of friends, Toire," Olivia said, taking a sip of tea.

"No I don't. I've pushed them all away and built up walls to keep them out. Now I don't know how to tear the walls back down."

"Toire, we all backed off when we knew you wanted us to. All you have to do is ask and we'll be back."  
Toire sat, staring at her cake. She doubted that it would be that simple. She saw the looks her former friends shot at her from across the common room sometimes. They were not friendly.

Olivia reached across the table and took Victoire's hand. "Just don't ever think that you're alone."  
Toire faked a smile and they spent the rest of their visit taking about upcoming homework.


End file.
